By Emily Anne Espinosa |Staff Writer|
Student Michaela Reyes, was in class when she first found out about the shooting.
“I was just trying to study, but my phone kept going off. This girl was on the phone and her brother was a police officer, and she was freaking out and crying, and everybody was stressed out,” said Reyes.
“Everybody thinks it’s not going to happen to them,” said Reyes. “And it was such a random day, a random time, you would never think it would happen so close to home,” said Reyes.
For students such as Jessica Segal and Justin Escopete, not being at school made them even more scared.
“At first, when I heard about the shootings, I got really scared because I thought it was on campus,” said Segal. “I called everybody I knew because I wanted to make sure they were okay,” continued Segal.
“It was a really big waiting game at home,” said Segal. “Me and my mom sat at home watching the news, we didn’t change the channel, and I made sure to text everybody as much as possible,” said Segal.
Escopete was on his way back to school when he first heard about it.
“People were texting me if I was okay, and I was like, why wouldn’t I be okay? So I checked Facebook and I checked the news and I’m immediately filled with guilt for not being there,” said Escopete.
“I was thinking of what I could be doing, and how I could be helping people if I was there,” explained Escopete.
Many students found themselves frustrated and upset that campus was not on lockdown immediately.
“I was really angry at administration for keeping classes open until 6 p.m., and I felt like they never addressed why classes were still being held or why campus wasn’t closed immediately,” said Escopete.
Reyes was one of the students who had their 6 p.m. classes canceled, but she still had to attend classes before campus closed.
“It was a matter of staying calm,” said Reyes. “Everybody was really tense. You could feel it, nobody could really concentrate, everybody was so shaken up. I still get goosebumps when I think about it,” said Reyes.
Allen Almazan, student, was out with his friends when he received a text that made him too scared to go home.
“My mom told me that the shooters actually lived in the apartment down the street from my house,” said Almazan, “I ended up staying at my friend’s dorm that night because I was too scared to go home.”
After the shootings occurred, many students felt like San Bernardino was suddenly given a spotlight.
“When they talk about shootings like Columbine and Orlando, it’s weird hearing San Bernardino in that list now,” said Escopete. “I remember they said San Bernardino in an episode of Quantico and I was like, wow, it really made an impact,” said Escopete.
“They started talking about San Bernardino like it was a scary place, I had never felt that way before, but after that, I totally did,” said Segal.
Leave a Reply